Joseph Holden

Joseph Holden was convicted of the murder of his grandson John Dawes 8 and sentenced to death.

He drowned him in a quarry at Limefield, Bury, Lancashire on Wednesday 5 September 1900.

He had gone to collect the boy from his school pretending that his mother required him to go on an errand.

He was later seen with the child on the road to the quarry and said that he first threw him into the quarry and then into the water.

The master of Bury Workhouse said that he looked upon Joseph Holden as being simple minded.

He had been admitted to Bury Workhouse in 1897 for 14 days on a magistrates order for being of unsound mind and had been an ordinary inmate there six times later. The question of whether he resented his children for not supporting him was raised but his eldest daughter said that he had never complained about not being supported by them.

He had been living in the workhouse until a week before the murder when he went to live with his daughter and her son John Dawes.

After he went to the police station and said, 'I threw the boy down on the rocks, and he went on some soft stuff. I took him by the neck and breaches and threw him down the quarry. I then went down into the quarry and threw him into the water'.

John Dawes was found in six feet of water.

It was noted that on 21 August 1900 he had also taken another child to the quarry where he had thrown a rock at him causing him injuries from which he wasn't thought to recover from.

Joseph Holden had pleaded guilty at his trial.

Following his conviction the police report to the Home Secretary stated that the main point for consideration in his case was that the whole issue was not before the jury, only the question of whether he was fit to plead.

It was noted that five medical men had examined Joseph Holden and that three of them had given evidence at the assizes. It was noted that two of them in a joint report had summed up their opinion by saying, 'We consider him to be of a low mental type, but we are unable to find any evidence of insanity'.

However, the third doctor had considered him to be of unsound mind, both at the time of the trial and at the time of the commission of the crime. He added that he had showed characteristic signs of mental and physical degeneration, exhibiting callous and indifferent manner and that he had talked freely of the crime for which he offered no excuse except that he had long felt compelled to do it, and concluded by stating that he was of the opinion that the brain disease that Joseph Holden was suffering from would sooner or later lead to complete dementia. However, he still thought that he was fir to plead.

It was further noted that the other two doctors who didn't give evidence at the Assizes stated that they were both of the opinion that Joseph Holden was neither insane nor irresponsible for his actions in the present and that they found no grounds for believing that he had been insane or irresponsible for his actions at the time he murdered John Dawes.

The police report stated therefore that they had four opinions that Joseph Holden was sane against one, but that if the case had been tried that the one doctor that had felt that he was insane and who was a medical man with much experience and who was at the time employed by the Treasury and who had previously been employed by the Home Office, would have probably had great weight with the jury who then might have recommended him to mercy or even found a verdict of guilty but insane.

Additionally it was noted that there was the fact that Joseph Holden's father and two brothers of the father had all committed suicide although it was not known from what cause.

It was also noted that Joseph Holden had himself been committed to the workhouse three years earlier for 14 days as an insane person, although that, according to the report from the workhouse doctor was in all probability merely an attack of delirium tremens brought on by drink.

However, it was additionally noted that Joseph Holden himself repudiated any idea of insanity.

Evidence was considered from the chief warder who said that when he read over the doctors evidence to Joseph Holden that Joseph Holden had said, 'My mind is all right. I am weak in the body, but not in the mind'. However, he was also noted as having said, 'Whoever says I am soft is mistaken, because I was aggravated to it'.

The police report stated that on looking through Home Office records, it was found that there were many cases where prisoners pleaded guilty to murder and who were left for execution, and a list was provided, it being noted that in many of the cases listed that, as with the present case, that the please in favour of the prisoner were not adequately brought out because of the plea of guilty.

As such, the police report stated that the difficulties of the case should be laid before the judge in an official or informal letter and consideration made  after his opinion sought or even a meeting, it being noted that the judge was in London at the time.

Cases referenced as having a similar guilty plea leading to the sentence of death were:

• 1863 - Alfred Holden: Cut his 11-month -old child's throat. He had said that he was tired of life and wanted to leave his wife without a burden. Executed.
• 1865 - Constance Emily Kent: Murder of her 4-year-old half-brother. Commuted.
• 1867 - James Bacon: Murdered wife in fit of passion. Commuted.
• 1869 - William Sheward: Confessed to murdering his wife 18 years earlier. Executed.
• 1871 - Claud Scott Wooley: Confessed to killing a potman but at his trial he denied the confession. Commuted.
• 1877 - William Hussell: Murdered his wife by stabbing her in several places with a butchers knife. Judge tried to persuade him to withdraw plea but he refused. Executed.
• 1879 - Jonathan Gaydon: Murdered old lady at Chingford and robbed house in June 1857 and gave himself up 22 years later. Commuted.
• 1880 - Henry Harman: Murdered old man six years earlier. No evidence save his confession. Not thought safe to hang. Commuted.
• 1883 - George White: Stabbed and kicked his wife to death. Executed.
• 1886 - David Roberts: Murder of farmer for sake of robbery. Executed.
• 1887 - Thomas Leathesbarrow: Murder of woman he lived with by beating and kicking. Utterly callous in dock. Executed.
• 1887 - Tomas Payne: Murder of sister-in-law who had a child by him after he became jealous at her breaking off their intimacy. Executed.
• 1895 - Joseph Canning: Cut his sweethearts throat. Executed.
• 1899 - Alice Robinson: Murder of 12-month-old infant child after destitution and miserable life with husband. Commuted.

However, Joseph Holden was executed at Manchester by James Billington on 4 December 1900.